The Incredible Journey is a novel published by Sheila Burnford in 1961which has inspired two successful film adaptations as well as a sequel to the second adaptation. The story is the tale of two dogs and a cat making a journey of a few hundred miles across the Canadian wilderness in search of their lost masters. The subject and premise of the story have mandated that it be categorized as a children's book since its initial publication. The number one critic of limiting the marketing genre of the novel to such a small demographic sampling of the population has always been the author herself.
From the very beginning, Burnford insisted that she wrote a book which could be enjoyed by readers of all ages. The rationale behind this insistence is that the book presents a relatively realistic portrayal of animal behavior. At the same time, however, the narrator invests the animals with enough human attributes to provide psychological insight of a sort. For instance, the narrator observes that "Nomadic life seemed to agree with the cat. He was in fine fettle, sleek and well groomed and as debonair as ever, and had adapted himself so well that at times it appeared as though he were positively enjoying the whole expedition." This passage illustrates the strength of the author's approach to telling the story. The use of qualifying language like "seemed" and "it appeared" is a subtle means of personifying the animal protagonists without actually turning them into mere animal-like stand-ins for human beings. It is not the cat himself who suggests that he is enjoying the expedition, much less saying so with the ability to speak. It is the narrator making a commentary on what the cat may—or may not—actually be thinking. If, indeed, the cat is thinking anything human-like at all.
The Incredible Journey is basically a variation on the mythic plot of heroes finding their way home. The dogs and cat making the journey are part of an endless litany of characters throughout the entire history of literature following in the footsteps of Odysseus in Homer's epic poem The Odyssey. This novel relates the odyssey undertaken by two dogs and a cat to reunite with their masters. The narrative follows them across hundreds of miles in the Canadian wild as they face several close brushes with injury or death while learning to depend upon, communicate, and cooperate with each other in order to attain a shared goal. The tests that the animals face in their commitment to reach their goal include staving off a bear attack and an equally treacherous attempt to cross a river. Interestingly, it is the natural world around the animals that present the biggest challenges rather than confrontations with human beings.
The structure of the storytelling which allows the narrator to endow human attributes to the animals which may not actually exist is essential to the success of the story as it pursues its themes. Ultimately, the book is—like all mythic odysseys centered around characters making their way home—a celebration of survival not through individual heroics, but the heroism that comes from communication, loyalty, and collaboration. That the main characters manage to collaborate and communicate and remain loyal despite representing different species or breeds without a single species only serves to intensify the subtext. That subtext is the assertion that humans should cooperate with each other rather than engage in endless competition. The significance of this subtext may be central to the insistence of the author that it is not merely a book to entertain children.
